"So, I still need to wait until my father's investigation is over, is that it?" Sakayanagi leaned lightly on her cane, walking unhurriedly at Yukio's side.
Their conversation was about the earlier agreement: Yukio had asked for Sakayanagi's class to assist with the three-billion plan, in exchange for Sakayanagi's father being reinstated as chairman of ANHS.
Seeing that Sakayanagi was walking with difficulty, Yukio stopped where he was, earning himself a side glance from her — one that carried a flavor he couldn't quite parse, whether irritation at her pride being pricked or something else entirely.
It was just past noon, the class-vote exam having ended, and most students were headed to the cafeteria. Yukio, however, had received an invitation from Acting Chairman Tsukishiro to meet at the chairman's office.
Running into Sakayanagi on the way, they chatted briefly.
To her question, Yukio nodded. "Chairman Sakayanagi's investigation hasn't ended yet. He's still under soft detention somewhere with favorable conditions — practically a vacation."
"Even if I could oust Acting Chairman Tsukishiro right now and sit in that seat myself, we'd still need Chairman Sakayanagi to return before he could officially resume the role."
Their relationship was close enough now that Yukio had even shared the most secret of student council intelligence with her: with three billion, he could freely replace the chairman.
Sakayanagi nodded in understanding, her eyes glimmering. "So, Yukio-kun, are you planning to oust Tsukishiro now? Be both student council president and chairman?"
If he really did that, Yukio would indeed be the undisputed emperor within ANHS, holding all authority in his hands, at least within the school's rules — omnipotent.
He could easily accomplish one of the goals that had brought him here: uncovering all of ANHS's systems and rules.
The thought tempted Yukio. For a moment, he considered how pleasant such a life would be. But in the end, he shook his head. "Let's see what Tsukishiro wants first."
"The first time I met him, he went out of his way to get close to me. Even though it was impossible for him to have dug up my background, he still acted like that. Too suspicious."
"Let's check it out. If Tsukishiro shows the wrong attitude, he won't last ten days in that acting chairman seat before being kicked out."
Sakayanagi clapped lightly in place, though the sound was muffled because she still gripped her cane. "How domineering~~"
"If my father had acted more like you, he wouldn't have been so easily taken away for investigation."
Yukio raised an eyebrow. Same as ever, Sakayanagi was the filial daughter to a fault. He gave a silent second of mourning for Chairman Sakayanagi.
"Your father is just… a little too gentle and mild."
"After so many years, he must have developed fixed ways of handling things. That's not so easy to change."
Thinking of her father's good temper, Sakayanagi tapped her cane twice against the tiles.
"When he comes back and resumes the chairmanship, I'll remind him to adjust his approach a bit."
"…." Yukio blinked. Inwardly he thought: whatever makes you happy. But truly, Chairman Sakayanagi's authority within his own family seemed worrying.
"Well then, I won't keep you from meeting Acting Chairman Tsukishiro." With that, Sakayanagi turned and hobbled off, her subordinate Kamuro waiting dutifully about twenty steps away.
Yukio smiled faintly and headed toward the chairman's office. Once again, he found himself in the small secretary's reception area outside — and once again, Tsukishiro greeted him there with those ever-smiling eyes.
Even though Yukio had taken advantage of Tsukishiro's design of the class-vote exam to reap huge benefits — and had even actively spent money to cancel the expulsions of four students — Tsukishiro still wore his smiling expression, as if anger were foreign to him. He showed no dissatisfaction toward Yukio, even warmly inviting him to sit.
Not only that, he poured two cups of tea himself, placing one before Yukio and holding one in his own hands. Leaving his desk, he sat down across from Yukio on the reception sofa. "Yukio-kun, you truly are something."
"To discover such a loophole and harvest so many private points… outstanding, truly outstanding." Tsukishiro smiled as he praised, even giving him a thumbs-up.
His demeanor wasn't the least bit agitated, his praise seemed sincere. It was as if Yukio had not ruined his plans, not sabotaged the order from Ryuen Yuzo to quickly expel Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. None of it seemed to matter to him.
In fact, his admiration seemed genuine. Tsukishiro himself hadn't expected Yukio to spot such a flaw in the voting exam and leverage it to amass such an enormous fortune.
To Tsukishiro, if not for the rigid stratification of society, a prodigy like Yukio could very well reach the highest rungs of the upper class.
Such a talent was surely worth befriending.
Tsukishiro's unruffled performance only made Yukio all the more certain — Tsukishiro had his own agenda. He hadn't lost his composure, hadn't grown angry.
It was as if even without Yukio's intervention, he wouldn't have been so quick to push Ayanokoji's expulsion.
From their very first meeting in this same reception room, Yukio had sensed Tsukishiro's deliberate friendliness. He'd realized back then that Tsukishiro and Ryuen Yuzo were not of one mind.
He had outside channels of information too, and knew that Tsukishiro had been installed as acting chairman only through various benefits exchanged with Atsuomi Ayanokouji. So what exactly was Tsukishiro's aim?
"Acting Chairman Tsukishiro, did you invite me here just to hand out praise?" Yukio, recalling how little he had gleaned from their previous talk, decided to probe again.
"If that's the case, I don't mind listening to a few more compliments."
"But if not, then let's get to the point. I wouldn't want to miss the school's lunch period."
Tsukishiro's ostensible purpose in coming to ANHS was to carry out Atsuomi Ayanokouji's order: retrieve Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. But what his real intentions were was far more intriguing.
"Haha, true enough. We can't have students going hungry." Tsukishiro gave off the air of a kindly professor, radiating harmony.
"In fact, the main reason I asked you here today…"
"…was to reassure you. All the gains you obtained in this exam were earned by your own ability."
"For that, the school will not attempt any recovery or cancellation. This enormous sum of private points is yours to use entirely at your own discretion."
Facing Tsukishiro, Yukio took care to restrain every flicker of expression. Even the urge to raise an eyebrow, he suppressed completely.
But in his heart, he was sighing. Was there really such a thing as this kind of good news?
By the school's rules, the private points distributed to students by the S-System were outside the administration's direct control. They couldn't be forcibly reclaimed or canceled.
But there was one precedent. It was said that in a previous year, a student had fraudulently amassed over ten million private points in order to transfer to Class A, pushing close to the twenty million required.
But he was exposed. The school applied to the S-System, which froze his account for a few days until the investigation concluded. Once the results were submitted, the S-System expelled the student directly, refunding all points back to their sources.
Yukio had no worry that such a case would happen to him. His income this time had involved no violations — every bit of it was within the school's internal rules.
Yet Tsukishiro still made a point of clarifying it for him, stressing that there would be no trouble at all, not even a temporary freeze. It was, in effect, another show of goodwill, sparing Yukio a host of needless worries.
Which only confused him further. He couldn't see what Tsukishiro was after. Time and again the man extended friendliness… but for what?
...
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